PITTSBURGH -- Darren Helm will be the first to admit that he's a man of few words.

"It's not the best part of my hockey game," he says with a soft laugh. "But I feel I've come a long way since when we started talking."

Indeed he has. During the opening few weeks of this season, Helm routinely wore the expression of someone being interrogated rather than interviewed. He spoke in short monotone sentences, and had a tendency to finish thoughts with a "so ..." that trailed off into oblivion.

It's been more than seven months, and Helm's oratory style hasn't really changed all that much, only now he's more apt to crack a joke and has mostly ditched the deer-in-headlights look that came whenever a microphone was shoved in his face.

It's easy to forgive Helm -- who started the season as a 20-year-old rookie far removed from his junior hockey days in Medicine Hat, Alberta -- for needing some time to adjust to the demands of the media.

His on-ice progression, on the other hand, is advancing at a much faster clip.

After going scoreless in just seven games with the Detroit Red Wings during the regular season, Helm hasn't left the lineup since making his postseason debut in Game 5 of their first-round series with the Nashville Predators.

Skating mainly alongside Kirk Maltby and Jiri Hudler on the fourth line, Helm has one goal, one assist and a plus-2 rating in 15 games. His playing time has decreased slightly since the start of the Pittsburgh Penguins series, but he's still averaging more than five minutes per game in the finals.

According to coach Mike Babcock, Helm has three attributes that have helped him stand out in the playoffs: speed, hockey sense and tenacity.

"He's a threat because of his speed, and because of the new game and the way it's played, he's hard on the puck because of his skating ability," Babcock said. "His development has been fantastic. And I think he's going to have a good career."

He's also just two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup in his first year as a pro, a prospect that's tough for a prospect to grasp at the moment.

"I try not to think about it too much. I think it's kind of bad karma," Helm said. "I'm just taking it a game at a time, and hopefully things turn out as well as we can expect."

It's a surprisingly measured, not to mention mature, response when you consider how far he has come in one season.

Helm injured his clavicle during training camp, which stunted his early development with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He had shown flashes of potential, but as of Feb. 2 Helm had only six goals.

But then his speed started to cause havoc on the ice, and as a result his game started to click. He became more physical and was able to create his own scoring opportunities, and his confidence rose as a byproduct.

Over the final two months of the season -- which included three different recalls by Detroit -- he scored 10 times, and he finished the season leading all Griffins rookies with 16 goals and 15 assists.

"It was a feeling out process, trying to get comfortable with everything. The more I played, the more I got to know people and the comfort level started rising," Helm said. "It does take me a while to get settled in, but as soon as I do I feel like I play better hockey and that's what I feel I've been doing so far."

Maltby, a player Helm is frequently compared to, has witnessed the transformation both on and off the ice.

"He looks like he's barely old enough to drive, but with his speed he's going to create a lot of chances offensively, he's going be to be able to recover defensively and he's going to be a good all-around player," Maltby said. "I don't know what his production is going to be, but he's definitely going to be one of those guys that gets his opportunities."

Opportunity already has knocked once for Helm, whose postseason NHL experience now doubles that of the regular season. While he'll likely start next season in Grand Rapids, the future is wide open.

"I know I'm still young and a lot of things can happen before next year. I'm still going to have to do a lot of things to be here for a while," Helm said. "It's still a long road ahead, and I'm looking forward to whatever happens."